Evidence of meeting #52 for Foreign Affairs and International Development in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was children.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:05 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Egg Farmers of Canada
If you had a couple of hundred, you could be in that...
I don't know what the cost would be on a per cage basis or a per housing-unit basis.
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
Lois Brown Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
In Canadian dollars, do you have any estimate for what setting up one of those would cost?
12:10 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Egg Farmers of Canada
Yes. For 2,000 birds, it would probably be about $15,000 Canadian to set up the system.
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
12:10 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Egg Farmers of Canada
Absolutely, yes. It's fully scalable. The cages all connect mechanically. You can have as few or as many as you want.
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
Lois Brown Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
A couple of hundred birds, so if somebody wanted to get involved in providing something like that, if there were a reason for people to see themselves engaged for maybe $300 to $500, could they provide a small-scale farmer with something like that? Is that reasonable?
12:10 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Egg Farmers of Canada
They probably could. It may be a little more than that, but it's in that ballpark, I would think.
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
Lois Brown Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
All right.
Ian and Janine, yesterday when we were talking we were just batting around some ideas. As part of fundraising mechanisms, we talked about having people think about a dozen eggs in Swaziland when they purchase a dozen eggs. You said something about maybe buying a chicken, but I think that when I buy chicken it's usually because I'm going to eat it, not because I'm really thinking about the chicken being a producer, whereas a dozen eggs is something that's tangible.
I would like to pursue that thought. I would be really happy to put some more contemplation into it and to see if my colleagues have any further ideas on that. Obviously, the funding part of this is something that you are very concerned about. I don't know how you have managed to date to do what you've done with the limited resources you've had. We talked about project money from the Canadian government, and we will keep you apprised of opportunities there as well.
For my part, I just want to say thank you for what you're doing. You never know which one of those little ones is going to be the next leader. As I've said to people before, when I've been in Africa.... My son-in-law is from Ghana. He is a brilliant young man with a doctorate in electrical engineering. If any one of these children is another Kofi, then the opportunity for the world is enormous. We do have a responsibility to help.
That's not really a question. It's just commentary, but thank you.
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
Thank you.
We have a couple of minutes left. Do you guys have any final thoughts?
Or does anyone else have any questions? We've just finished our third round.
12:10 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Egg Farmers of Canada
I'd like to say again how much we appreciate you taking the time and listening to the story. We really appreciate the thoughts and ideas and your obvious interest in this.
Thank you.
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
Thank you.
I'll echo the committee members. It's great to see partnerships like this, because one plus one equals two, but one plus two plus three could equal many. I think that's the whole key. You get to leverage each other's experience, and it makes a big difference. It's great to see that kind of collaboration on the ground. As well, we're always proud to hear Canadian stories as well.
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
Thank you very much for what you're doing. We wish you all the best.
[Applause]
We don't have other business, so I'm going to adjourn the meeting now. I wish people a good week. We'll see everybody on Tuesday.
Thank you. The meeting is adjourned.